Quotes by
Talleyrand |
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, 1754-1838 , French statesman & diplomat

The name “Talleyrand” has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy.
23 quotes | 28,620 visits |
Quotations
• | This is worse than a crime, it's a mistake. 74 |
• | A woman will sometimes forgive the man who tries to seduce her, but never the man who misses an opportunity when offered. 60 |
• | A diplomat who says “yes” means “maybe", a diplomat who says “maybe" means “no”, and a diplomat who says “no” is no diplomat. 43 |
• | If you wish to be popular in society consent to be taught many things you already know. 26 |
• | Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred. 26 |
• | An important art of politicians is to find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the public. 23 |
• | They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. 23 |
• | Speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts. 22 |
• | A married man with a family will do anything for money. 18 |
• | To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man. 16 |
• | Above all, not too much zeal. 15 |
• | The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence. 14 |
• | Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of glory creates a great man. 14 |
• | Beauty, devoid of grace, is a mere hook without the bait. 12 |
• | The art of putting the right men in the right places is first in the science of government; but that of finding places for the discontented is the most difficult. 11 |
• | Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime. 10 |
• | The rich man despises those who flatter him too much, and hates those who do not flatter him at all. 9 |
• | Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means. (1789, the year of the French Revolution) 8 |
• | Nothing succeeds so well as success. 8 |
• | The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pygmy in its proportions when it follows. 8 |
• | This is not an event, it is a piece of news. 7 |
Personal Stories
• | Regimes may fall and fail, but I do not. 11 |
Funny Quotes
• | I found there a country with thirty-two religions and only one sauce. 44 |